RUTH GLEANING.


 HoIPE was not all dead in Naomi's heart; she knew
they would be fed at least. She had told Ruth much
about their country and its laws : in harvest-time the Jews
always left some of the grain in the corners of the fields,
and they did not pick up all the stalks very carefully;
in the vineyards they left some grapes, and on the olive-
trees some berries. All these were left for the poor, the
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Were not these
lonely women all these? There was food enough for
them by going to the fields for it.
 Ruth went to a field that belonged to a rich man
named Boaz; the reapers were. busy cutting the grain,
there were women gathering it and binding it into sheaves,
and a chief servant to oversee all the work of the field.
Ruth followed after the reapers, picking up some scattered
ears or forgotten sheaves. Before noon the owner of the
field, Boa., came out from Bethlehelm he bowed, and
said to his reapers, The Lord he with you," and they
answered him, The Lord bless thee."
 As he looked over the field he saw the pretty stranger,
and asked the overseer who it was. He told him it was
the widow who came back with Naomi out of the coun-